Reason #7854 Why Everything’s Better in Sweden

Fizzy Vitamin C

I’ve spent most of today feeling tired and out-of-sorts. I did manage to leave my bed for the half an hour it took to make and eat an omelet at about 2 p.m. Otherwise, I’ve been curled up under blankets with my three pillows and a pile of books waiting to be read, except for the occasional foray down to the kitchen to make a cup of fizzy, Swedish Vitamin C drink.

There’s something about a warm bubbly beverage that makes me feel better than just swallowing a Vitamin C tablet ever will. Every summer, I return from Sweden with a couple of tubes of tablets so I won’t ever be caught without them. I know that you can buy fizzy cold-fighting beverages here in the U.S. now, but the usual orange flavor seems boring to me now after I’ve sampled the full spectrum of Swedish flavors: lemon, lime, pineapple-papaya, strawberry, pear, black current, raspberry and, my current favorite, apple-elderflower.